News from the front: 1.8GHz Celeron

Intel cuts prices as new chip is released in Tokyo

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Intel's fast Celeron yet, the 1.8GHz version, is out.

Intel cut the prices of some of its Pentium 4, Mobile Pentium 4, Mobile Pentium III and Xeon processor chips on Sunday as an as-yet unannounced chip, a 1.8GHz version of its Celeron processor, appeared in Tokyo's Akihabara electronics district (pictured).

Intel last launched a new Celeron processor on 15 May, when it put a 1.7GHz version of the chip on sale. The chip features a faster front-side bus and is based on the same core as older Pentium 4 processors.

However, the 1.7GHz Celeron comes equipped with 128KB of Level 2 cache memory, which is half the capacity of previous Celeron and older P4 chips. This means the chip offers low performance, according to a PC World benchmark test.

The 1.8GHz Celeron has a similar specification, with a 400MHz front-side bus and 128KB Level 2 cache, and appeared over the weekend at one store in Akihabara where it was on sale bundled with a motherboard for ¥15,500 (around £85).

Intel is expected to 'officially' announce the new chip sometime in the next few weeks.

While Tokyoites were picking up the new chip, Intel was cutting prices. Intel's latest cuts see up to 43 percent taken off the price of its flagship desktop processor, the Pentium 4, with the largest price cuts, percentage-wise, seen in the Mobile Pentium 4 range.

Intel's Xeon processors, which are aimed at use in servers, also saw price reductions. Like the Pentium 4 cuts, the fastest chip in the range was left unchanged while others were lowered.